4 Responses

Great discussion. Mr Epting is so young but sounds like he’s been around for centuries. As you said, I could’ve taken 9 more hours of chat. I’ve got the Masters of Cinema box of complete Keaton shorts and the great British TV documentary Buster Keaton – A Hard Act to Follow and that feels like a good intro to the great man. Tyler, were you aware of Harold Lloyd’s later career as a colour photographer? He seemed to stay fit and well and in the US – unlike Chaplin or Keaton – through the later golden age and his photos of stars and others are great.

It looks like this guy is a proper Max Fischer. Unless there’s another, similar-looking Charles Epting out there, he’s also involved in rock band photography, panels on climate change, he wrote a book on the history of the USC campus, and, yes, he collects stamps:

Charles, you remind me of myself at your age. At 21 I started getting a little tired of indie rock, and picked up the Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk Music (AkA The Harry Smith Anthology) for about 3 years I wouldn’t listen to anything recorded post-World War II, and really even late 30s was suspect.

You don’t seem that weird to me (and I think “Hipster” has become an almost meaningless slur). Here’s my prediction: as you move forward modernity will find its way back into your taste, but the intense scrutiny you gave a very particular historical era is going to inform how you approach criticism and appreciation of things outside that era.

Anyway, musician from the pre-war era more people should be aware of: Booker T. Washington White. (who recorded under “Bukka White” – a name he hated).

David’s right on this one. The idea that criticism of Griffith is “revisionism” ignores the actual history. Riots, protests, bans, negative reviews–that was all part of the response to the film. As was Micheaux’s Within Our Gates. And Griffith is certainly not getting left out of any film history I’m aware of.